By Yaghoub Fazeli

DUBAI -- Iran’s President Hassan Rohani referred to a photoshopped image from social media in a Cabinet meeting on Saturday when comparing Iran’s response to coronavirus to the rest of the world.

A photoshopped image of a British soldier and police officer with firearms standing in front of packs of toilet paper in a UK store was widely circulated on social media amongst Iranian pro-regime users.

Speaking at Iran’s national task force for fighting coronavirus on Saturday, President Rohani said: “Armed police are guarding tissue in a European country. A friend sent me this one picture. Two armed officers were guarding tissue.”

Rohani was referring to the photoshopped image previously shared by pro-regime users, Iranian social media users pointed out.

The original image of the British soldier and police officer dates back to May 2017, while the image of the packs of toilet paper is from a tweet earlier this month.

As of Sunday, 1,685 in Iran have died from coronavirus, and there are 20,610 confirmed cases. -- Al Arabiya English